This book sets out to answer what appears to be a deceptively simple question: how do poor and marginalized citizens engage the state in the global South? Drawing on twelve case studies from the global South, this book explore the politics of 'mediated citizenship' in which citizens are represented to the state through third party intermediaries who 'speak for' the people they represent. These intermediaries include political parties, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, social movements, armed non-state actors, networks or individuals. Collectively the cases show that mediation is both widely practiced and multi-directional in relations between states and key groups of citizens in the global South. Furthermore, they show how mediated forms of representation may have an important role to play in deepening democracy in the global South.

Karin Wahl-Jorgensen is Senior Lecturer in the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. Her work on the relationship between citizenship, democracy and the media has appeared in more than 20 international journals. She is the author of Journalists and the public (Hampton Press, 2006) and Citizens or consumers? (Open University Press, 2005; with Justin Lewis and Sanna Inthorn).